Dealer Pleads Guilty to Smuggling in Largest International Dino Case Ever

A fossil dealer’s guilty plea has set the stage for what is most likely the largest dinosaur fossil repatriation in history, according to an attorney representing the President of Mongolia, the country that will receive most of the fossils that federal officials are seizing from fossil dealer and preparer Eric Prokopi. On Thursday (Dec. 27) Prokopi pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to smuggling fossils and agreed to forfeit a small menagerie of dinosaurs to federal officials. All but one of the dinosaurs in question came from Mongolia, where law makes fossils state property, and among them is a high-profile skeleton that received a $1.05 million bid at auction . “We have looked into this, and we can’t find any instance anywhere when one country has returned to another a lot of dinosaurs this large and this significant that have been looted or smuggled,” said Robert Painter, attorney for Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia. The outcome has set precedent in other ways, according to observers and others who are involved in the case. In particular, some believe it will send a message to those involved in the black market for fossils , particularly those taken from Mongolia, which have been widely available… Read full this story

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